Review By: Lorne Schachter
06/21/2010New software development techniques fall into two major categories: individual developer techniques and team development techniques. Every developer has his preferred method for developing software which is view as an artistic, individual process. Working in teams has always been difficult for developers because of the individual developer's pride in his product. Team work has always had the feel of a regimented process that holds back a developer's creativity and productivity. On the other hand, having a team of developers involved in the development process leads to early detections of problems. Agile methodologies provide ways of working within a team without destroying the creativity of the individual developers or imposing unnecessary rigidity on the process.

Agile Adoption Patterns is written to help those people who are involved in bringing agile practices into an organization. Elssamadisy first looks into the problems in an organization that can be addressed through agile development. Once these business goals have been identified, he goes through a series of patterns describing how to bring agile methods into practice in order to reach those business goals.

Agile Adoption Patterns is also written for the evangelist within an organization who is responsible for adopting change. I wouldn't call it a cookbook since situations and solutions vary from project to project. Instead, it is more like a handbook that explains how to look at the issues, determine the best way to address them, and then follow through and bring them into practice. Indeed, Elssamadisy states that agile practices are not always applicable and that understanding when to use certain practices in certain situations can only help the success of a project. Reading through the book and working through the exercises gives the evangelist an invaluable toolkit that can only help make a new agile project a success.